A stage musical adaptation of Prince's "Purple Rain" begins Broadway previews March 12, 2027, with an official opening night set for April 12 at the Majestic Theatre in New York. Producer Orin Wolf and the show's producing team confirmed the dates on July 27, 2026 — 42 years to the day after the "Purple Rain" film premiered in 1984.
The Broadway run follows a world premiere at Minneapolis' State Theatre, where the show began previews October 16, 2025. The Broadway staging has been substantially reworked from that Minneapolis production, according to the Minnesota Star Tribune.
Saheem Ali, a Tony nominee for directing "Buena Vista Social Club," takes over as director for Broadway, replacing Lileana Blain-Cruz, who directed the Minneapolis run. Peter Duchan, who wrote the book for "Dogfight," replaces original book writer Branden Jacobs-Jenkins. Jason Michael Webb, a Tony winner for "MJ the Musical," leads music supervision, arrangements and orchestrations, and Ebony Williams, an Emmy winner recognized for her work on "Sneakerella," choreographs. Tickets go on sale in September 2026.
Bobby Z and Morris Hayes, both former members of Prince's bands, serve as music advisers on the production as the show adapts more than 20 Prince tracks, including "When Doves Cry," "I Would Die 4 U" and "The Beautiful Ones."
Primary Wave Music, the New York publisher that acquired a 42% stake in Prince's estate in 2021 covering publishing, master-recording income and his name and likeness, has been a stakeholder voice around the stage adaptation since it was first announced in February 2024. At that announcement, Primary Wave founder and CEO Larry Mestel said the company was "very excited for the creative team to be inspired by the Minneapolis sound and the unparalleled and unique spirit of the city that Prince inspired," a statement issued alongside L. Londell McMillan, Prince's former manager. The estate stake sits inside a broader run of catalog consolidation for Primary Wave, which paid a reported $200 million for Britney Spears' catalog in early 2026 and closed a roughly $1.5 billion acquisition of Kobalt Music in July, forming a combined $7 billion independent-music company.
Source: The Shubert Organization
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